Opening up about being mentally ill

[Losty]

EPs advice isn't completely unfounded.  My brother from another mother (we share the same exact birthday) is bipolar, and keeping incredibly busy does help him out.  It's not a cure, obviously, but it's definitely a helpful component of his overall treatment (including medication, a healthier diet than he had in high school, regular exercise, etc).

While he still has his moments (mostly fueled by his work, mother, and younger brother - the last two really know how to push his buttons), he's doing a lot better living in another state with a sweetheart of a fiancée.  She's exactly the kind of support he needs.

All that said, obviously everyone is different, so what may work for my friend and EP may not work for others.  Also note that I'm not trying to say that any particular person in this thread has/has not tried to increase their activity load, or any thing else about their treatment.  Just relaying an anecdote.

I don't have bipolar disorder but I get this advice. I try really hard to schedule my life at the perfect activity levels. Too little activity worsens depression, too much activity worsens my anxiety. I get overwhelmed fairly easily. I don't think that's the part of the advice people were offended by though

[Jackalope]

I guess I could elaborate on what I've experienced since my OP didn't really cover my experiences.  I think my depression started at 13, but it wasn't full-blown and diagnosable until I was sixteen.  That's also when I was hospitalized for the first time.  I missed twelve days of high school in a loony bin.  I was in and out of hospitals for years, and I had a very serious suicide attempt at 19.  At 22 my best friend killed himself, which landed me a shitload of PTSD and much more depression.  Five years later another good friend of mine from high school died, and I hit rock bottom once again.

It took years of no job and little stress to be able to work on myself to control it.  Once I did that, there was a honeymoon period where I felt great about life, because I could control my depression very well.  But life has its ways of beating you down, and here I am, feeling the tip of the iceberg I know is below.  The thing is that I'm wiser now, and I can recognize when things are going downhill and have to change what I am doing to avoid that downward spiral you can get trapped in.

I'm sorry you had to experience those things, my friend. In some ways my own inexperiences are similar, though not the same. I guess what I'm getting to say is I think I have an idea of how those things made you feel and what it's like to be loaded down with that kind of baggage.

I don't feel like I'm in a good place to tell my own story, so I'll pass on that for now.

I'm glad you're still with us.

[KevinM1]

EPs advice isn't completely unfounded.  My brother from another mother (we share the same exact birthday) is bipolar, and keeping incredibly busy does help him out.  It's not a cure, obviously, but it's definitely a helpful component of his overall treatment (including medication, a healthier diet than he had in high school, regular exercise, etc).

While he still has his moments (mostly fueled by his work, mother, and younger brother - the last two really know how to push his buttons), he's doing a lot better living in another state with a sweetheart of a fiancée.  She's exactly the kind of support he needs.

All that said, obviously everyone is different, so what may work for my friend and EP may not work for others.  Also note that I'm not trying to say that any particular person in this thread has/has not tried to increase their activity load, or any thing else about their treatment.  Just relaying an anecdote.

I don't have bipolar disorder but I get this advice. I try really hard to schedule my life at the perfect activity levels. Too little activity worsens depression, too much activity worsens my anxiety. I get overwhelmed fairly easily. I don't think that's the part of the advice people were offended by though

Haha, true

[Jackalope]

EPs advice isn't completely unfounded.  My brother from another mother (we share the same exact birthday) is bipolar, and keeping incredibly busy does help him out.  It's not a cure, obviously, but it's definitely a helpful component of his overall treatment (including medication, a healthier diet than he had in high school, regular exercise, etc).

While he still has his moments (mostly fueled by his work, mother, and younger brother - the last two really know how to push his buttons), he's doing a lot better living in another state with a sweetheart of a fiancée.  She's exactly the kind of support he needs.

All that said, obviously everyone is different, so what may work for my friend and EP may not work for others.  Also note that I'm not trying to say that any particular person in this thread has/has not tried to increase their activity load, or any thing else about their treatment.  Just relaying an anecdote.

I don't have bipolar disorder but I get this advice. I try really hard to schedule my life at the perfect activity levels. Too little activity worsens depression, too much activity worsens my anxiety. I get overwhelmed fairly easily. I don't think that's the part of the advice people were offended by though

I do have bipolar disorder and there is, at least in some cases, something to EP's advice. Constructive activity certainly does *help* to a degree, but it is not panacea and my objection to his advice was more oriented toward the attitude that he was in a position to understand the condition or it's "cure", based on the little information presented.

I'm not going to keep harping on it though, I think he meant well even if the delivery came across as not so.

[Faith No More]

I'm sorry you had to experience those things, my friend.  In some ways my own inexperiences are similar, though not the same.  I guess what I'm getting to say is I think I have an idea of how those things made you feel and what it's like to be loaded down with that kind of baggage.

I don't feel like I'm in a good place to tell my own story, so I'll pass on that for now.

I'm glad you're still with us.

Thanks, CD. I know you've said some things before that make me thing we've experienced similar things, so you know what it's like. I hope people can come to recognize how hard these experiences are.

Don't feel the need to share if you don't want to. No one should have to share private matters like that if they're not comfortable doing so.

[KevinM1]

As a physically disabled guy, it's interesting to read about a different kind of struggle. There's definitely some similarities in terms of stigma, at the very least, if not limitations and how we address them.

Like for me, Professor Xavier aside, most people's initial reaction to me in the flesh is that I'm dumb, slow, retarded, whatever, and that my opinion on anything doesn't really matter for those reasons. So, I sort of have to put on this show of wit and intelligence to new people that, yeah, I'm capable in my own way.

I can only imagine something similar when people learn of your mental illnesses. Probably lots of tentative responses, them acting like they're walking on eggshells, that sort of really annoying shit.

[Faith No More]

I can only imagine something similar when people learn of your mental illnesses.  Probably lots of tentative responses, them acting like they're walking on eggshells, that sort of really annoying shit.

When my roommate at my short-lived college experience saw my bottle of Prozac, he asked me if I was going to do something to him in his sleep. He wasn't joking. People tend to equate mental illness with aggressive behavior. I think they fear that we'll "snap" on them more than anything.

[Thumpalumpacus]

<obsolete post edited>

[Whateverist]

Not sure if this is what you wanted this thread to become, Chris, but here is my contribution.




My name is Mark and I am a -knock on wood- one time sufferer of major depression. I would have been about Losty's age that time. I can hope that it was all the stressors -car accident/death of a loved one/divorce- in my life at that time which precipitated it and that I wouldn't/won't suffer it otherwise. But there are no guarantees. My mother was manic depressive and of my four living siblings all suffer from depression to some degree.

While out on disability from the car accident I slept an enormous amount and read a lot albeit very slowly - mostly until I would fall asleep again. I didn't eat a lot. Didn't take of things. Avoided social contact and felt out of the loop with 'normal' people. It lasted a year or two and gradually lifted. I never felt like: now I'm back to normal though. It has always felt like a discontinuity in my life from being one person to being another, if that makes any sense. For me accepting the new, seemingly diminished me, seemingly played a role in getting to my 'new' normal.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Look, looking at one of your replies here, I can see you're causing the problem yourself without even knowing it. Try taking your "recovery" seriously, on a personal level, and you might be very surprised with the results.

You...utter...cunt.

Boru